Methodological Developments in Ethnography - Case Study Example

Ethnography as a research strategy Student’s name Professor Course Date Abstract Ethnography is a term derived from two Greek words /ethnos/ (which means a notion, folk or people) and /grapho/ "I write" and when loosely put, the two words therefore means to write the story of people. It is the study of different people and their cultures. Ethnography may also be defined as both qualitative research method or process and product and whose aim is cultural clarification. The ethnographer goes a step beyond reporting details of experience and events and attempts to explain deeper. Ethnographers come up with understandings of culture. They do this through representation of emic perspective also described as "insider's point of view" emphasis in this representation allow emergence of critical categories from the ethnographic experience rather introducing these from the existing models. Typically, ethnography entails the study of a small group of subjects in their respective environment and tries to gain a detailed understanding of circumstances a few areas or subjects being studied. Ethnographic accounts can be seen as both interpretive and descriptive. Descriptive in the sense that detail is very important and interceptive because the ethnographer has to see the significance of observations without having to gather large quantity of statistical information. The historical past of ethnography as an expression and practice is quite ample and it entails philosophical, spiritual, political and aesthetic elements, which have often named people, alternate cultures and informed people who they are, and their likely future positions. Ethnography as a concept was first developed by Gerhard Friedrich a German professor who looked into it as a distinct disciplined while he undertook the 1733 and 1743 second Kamchatka Expedition. Other experts on the field such as Christoph Wilhem of Göttingen University brought the term into academic consultation in an attempt to bring change in the contemporary manner in the understanding of world history. Ethnography therefore emerged out of a ''master colonization discourse'' Atkinson (2007) in his study of the subject. Various scholars have however questioned the legitimacy of this debate. By applying its concepts and standards, this section examines ethnography deeply in order to have a clearer understanding of the study. Ethnography as a research strategy An etic view, by dissimilarity, refers to a farther, analytical alignment to experience. The understanding of the ethnographic concept can be developed through keen analysis of several data sources, which can be used as a foundation by the ethnographer who relies on a cultural frame analysis. Participant observation is the term used to describe the field setting or place where ethnography is carried out and this is usually the first primary source of data. The term depicts the dual role the ethnographer. The researcher needs to become both a participant in life of the setting while at the same time maintaining the role of an observer. Typically, ethnographers can spend many months or even years in the place, they will conduct their research with the aim of forming lasting bonds with the people. (O’reiley, 2005, p. 115). Because of historical development and other biases, in the past most of the ethnographers carried out their research in foreign countries ignoring work potential here at home. The importance of carrying out interviews is that they provide crucial data what might be referred to as "targeted" data by directly asking open-ended questions. There is variety of styles for carrying out interviews and each ethnographer can choose his/her own approach. The key intention is to ensure that the interviewed person(s) answers without any limitation by pre-defined choices. An ethnographic interview in most cases looks and feels abet different than any everyday conversation and in the long-term participant observation course, most conversations are impetuous and with no specific agenda. (Manion, 2003, p. 17). The primary tools that are usually used for ethnographic study include the use of field notes although some observers start with a blank notebook and note down everything taking place. Others may use video or audio tapes while others may begin with a list of behaviour categories to write down. Field notes need to be immediately written to avoid the possibility of forgetting they key details. They should also contain information such as the date, time and place of observation; sensory impressions for instance sight, textures, taste etc. It should also contain the site's details and activities. Researchers collect other data sources, which rely on the specific nature of the field setting, and this may take the configuration of typical artefacts that contain the characteristics of the topic of interest, newspapers, articles and government reports. Although no mostly Used, these secondary sources are utilized to locate the specific point of study within an available body of literature. Interest on anthropology has heightened over the last 20 years after considering the close relationship between motivation, personal history, and the ethnographic fieldwork particulars. It is important therefore to understand how these factors have significance on construction theory and performance of scholar life. Personal and professional experiences and also with historical context directs individual researchers to their own particular theoretical approaches and method Summary of the processes Ethnographic research involves primary research that entails long-term study of the observed culture. Below is a list of the three major processes 1. Secondary analysis of data the data used is from secondary sources, which has been analysed by the researcher. It is necessary for generation of ideas and question to explore further in the research. These include statistical data, scholar publications, records etc. 2. Fieldwork It entails primary research and is an important part of ethnography. The ethnographer spends time in among the observed group, learning their customs and routines. Here, the researcher plays the roles of both observer and participant. The researchers should therefore plan to and watch culture members interact and participate if possible and this puts the researcher in real experience of the culture 3. Semi-structural informal interviews this is where interviews are conducted with the participants of culture and this can be a very important information source to the researcher (Flahrty1992, p.33). One of the approaches involves informal interviews. Another approach could include conducting more structured interviews with pre-determined questions. The decision concerning what kind of interview to carry out will depend on the requirements of your assignment and the limitations of the time spent in that particular place of study. Between 1960s and 1970s, Scholars within the communication field started making use of ethnographic methods of research. Ethnography describes language, beliefs, behaviours and patterns of values that are learnt and passed on in within a cultural group as a process and outcome of the research. Ethnographic research started being used in communication studies to cut through the behaviours and phenomena of communication. In writing, it can be seen as an attempt to understand routines, which are taken for granted, and which produce sensible definitions socially. It in other words answers the questions ''why'' and do ‘‘how come'' by elaborating the ways in which ordinary practices, perfomances and methods build the common actions that ordinary people apply to show their identities (Zembylas, 2005). Differences across various disciplines Ethnography and sociology Either anthropologists or sociologists also use ethnographic method in various different disciplines. Social and cultural anthropology emerged because of ethnographic research and their accepted texts, which are in most cases, ethnographies. Today, social and cultural anthropologists place greater value on undertaking ethnographic research. The fact that ethnographers goes to the extent of studying culture, makes them being sometimes referred as ‘’case studies’’ An ethnography is a particular kind of observational science in written form which accounts for a given culture community or society. The fieldwork as previously stated might take up to several years in another society while interacting with the people. Ethnography and anthropology With development of ethnography, anthropologists acquired more interests in aspects of culture such as values with tracing of doings of people as well as their cultural elements. For instance winking was a communicative gesture within a group of people and could be having different meanings. As opposed to use of linguistic boundaries, cultural boundaries in the communication context could be explored (Vermeulen, 2008, p.9). Amidst cultural anthropology, there are several other sub-genres of ethnography according to various anthropologists. Sociology as a field also features ethnographies. For instance the Chicago school and urban sociology are particularly associated with ethnography although there other known examples. According to study concerning these developments, everyday practices of illness, recovery and care are noted. Ethnography and communication The field of Communication studies has also been linked to ethnography. Ethnographic methods of research began to be adopted by communication scholar. The purpose of ethnography is to interpret the shared and learned trends of values, beliefs, behaviours and language of a group. The use of ethnographic methods has allowed the communication studies scholars to analyse communicative phenomena and behaviours. As a research and analysis method, Ethnography is used in communication studies to explain "how" ordinary practices/ performance creates the ordinary actions applied by ordinary people .Such research studies may be applied in analysis of speech patterns for instance, at a protest rally. (Walford, 2007, p119). Health and ethnography Ethnographies may also go deeper into the field of health and medicine and this has been seen to rapidly increase over the recent years. Here' ethnography is depicted as a research approach in which the central method being observation. In health research, the most common way in using qualitative methods is part of the preparing for a survey or quantitative research. The quantitative research helps researchers to identify phenomena before analysing and counting their instances thus helping them to design questionnaires, which are meaningful to the respondents. Furthermore, qualitative health research can be independently done understanding relationships, form evaluation and identifying social processes (Bochner, 1996 , p11). Geography and Ethnography Ethnographic techniques are being increasingly embraced within the human geography with a growing interest in quantitative geography. Many books have been written on Ethnography and geography to enhance learning on this important field. Evaluation of ethnography Although no consensus has been developed concerning evaluation standards. Ethnographic studies require to be mannerly evaluated. Below is a list of five criteria that might be helpful to ethnographers. 1. Substantive contribution-"Does the particular piece add any contribution to our social-life understanding? 2. Aesthetic merit-"Does it aesthetically succeed? 3. Reflexivity-How did the author came up with this text 4. Impact- "Does this have any effect on me?" intellectually? Emotionally? 5. Also expresses a reality. "Does it look true? Features of ethnography Ethnography is primarily used within the field of anthropology or other social sciences. It is mainly used whenever a researcher needs to answer questions concerning social interaction of communities meaning that, they must be a cultural group, teams, or organizations. Furnishing the readers with rich and holistic deductions into actions of people and perceptions is one of the core objectives in ethnography. Moreover, it explores the nature of their domain by giving interviews, making, and gathering observation. It is necessary to elaborate clearly what ethnography is today. In the research field, roughly, any qualitative study can be referred to as ethnographic. This leads to many questions arising concerning how exactly to know what study qualifies to be ethnographic and how to identify an ethnographic study. Key features to note in any ethnographic research Giving of prominence to the exploration of a given phenomenon in nature is one of the key feature of ethnography this phenomenon. Ethnography tells peoples' stories exactly as they are without any comparison. This is a rising, open-minded and flexible process of learning in different from an invigilator-conducted process. It entails a period of learning, presumed by a period(s) of iteration. The researcher puts him/herself in the told story in order to become one of the subjects in this particular case. This is because he/she wills recounts it as he experiences it through one of his subject's eyes (Claire, 2003, p.904). The process of research totally depend on the subject which involves discovery, derivation of inferences and continuing inquiries all with an attempt to arrive at a study from the view of one of the studied culture participants. It is therefore necessary that the researcher partake of the culture being studied before undertaking the analysis (Ellis & flaherty, 1992) another characteristic of ethnography is the data type and the research process methods. Most ethnographers will affirm that ethnographical work tends to primarily deal with "unstructured data" (referring to non-coded data at the point of collection not assigned to a closed collection of analytical categories). It is also accepted that ethnographic methods are qualitative but Walford (2007) disagrees with this. He mentions that, ethnography entails both classical and non-classical methods and both qualitative and quantitative methods. Some ethnographic researchers use quantitative methods only whereas others use qualitative methods only, while others use a combination of both. It is however accepted that, the majority of the ethnographers maintain a notably qualitative focus in their studies and Whenever appropriate, use quantitative methods to accompany their mainstay. The ethnographer should adopt the best possible means are considered sensible and necessary in creating an outlook on the subject (Anfara and mertz 2006). It is however clear that ethnography goes beyond the simple concept of methods and it has ontological and epistemological features (O'Reilly, 2005). These features may cause ethnographers to differ based on the chosen approach. Ethnographical research may therefore not bear exactly the same results due to all these variables. The same story may be repeatedly told by varying the perspective chosen by the writer. Epistemological ethnographers may conflict in terms of investigative approach usually in a pessimistic manner which hold true the idea that, in order to best understand human settings, one has to ensure that the there is a clear separation between researcher and the research is maintained. Ontological ethnographer on the other hand may vary in their alignment towards the subject being investigated, which will determine whether they view it as exact phenomenon. They may also disagree depending on their positivity in thinking. (Philipsen, kamberelis, & Dimitriadis, 2005) Other ethnography features It includes studies on both emic and etic points of view It comprises of an iterative process with a series and learning episodes. It is greatly dependent on fieldwork and therefore requires that notes are recorded in the field continuously and on daily basis. In summary, there are three Ethnography levels; The data assembly level Tentatively arranging the data to provide various information on a particular culture such as traditions, and social culture economics among others. A discussion of the used procedures in arriving at the data arrangement reported in the second level. Conclusion It is clear from the study that the ethnography entails the study of people cultures within their natural habitats. This plays an important role in the field of education. It also allows different people to learn about others and themselves in significant and aesthetic ways. Ethnographic studies emerge to be the core of humanity since they value interactions of humans; places value in important things to people and most important helps preserve different peoples' cultures. As explained above, ethnographic researches have a particular feature that can be recognized here. Ethnographers are of importance because when they take part in their studies helps understanding our local behaviour and thought. Ethnographers have been also useful to businesses due to the understanding of how products and services are used by people. Companies increasingly make use of ethnography in order to understand consumers and their consumption or product development. Ethnographies are therefore suited for studying of complex cultural, unpredictable situations, societal interactions and relationships. Ethnography can conclusively be termed as a voice of understanding since it allows different to speak out their perspective and views that would otherwise be untapped. In summary, the term ethnography may be applied to a given qualitative project where a thick description is required as the desired outcome. This research however has as well focused on market research and development rather than only the traditionional point of view. References Anfara, V., & Mertz, N. (2006). Theoretical frameworks in qualitative research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications. Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2003). Research methods in education (1st ed.). London: RoutledgeFalmer. Ellis, C., & Flaherty, M. G. (Eds.). (1992). Investigating subjectivity: Research on lived experience. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Hammersley, M., & Atkinson, P. (2007). Ethnography (2nd ed.). Hoboken: Taylor & Francis. O'Reilly, K. (2005). Ethnographic methods (1st ed.). London: Routledge. Vermeulen, H (2008). Early History of Ethnography and Ethnology in the German Enlightenment: Anthropological Discourse in Europe and Asia, 1710-1808. Leiden: Privately published. Walford, G. (2007). Methodological developments in ethnography (1st ed.). Amsterdam: Elsevier JAI. Ellis, C., & Bochner, A. P. (Eds.). (1996). Composing ethnography: Alternative forms of qualitative writing. Walnut Creek, CA: Alta Mira Press. Zembylas, M. (2005). Beyond teacher cognition and teacher beliefs: The value of the ethnography of emotions in teaching. International Journal Of Qualitative Studies In Education, 18(4), 465--487. Read More